//------------------------------// // The Battle of Ponyville Begins // Story: Blooming Talent // by Griffin Productions //------------------------------// Sapphic had been recovering his senses and wounds for hours now. That damn unicorn had really did a number on him and his followers; he was truly amazed that one pony had done so much to his army...to him. Two hundred; that was how many of his brothers and sisters had died from the unrelenting waves of sound and noise she had attacked them with. This left little more than six hundred of them to fight the rest of Equestria. He thought that he'd be able to take them all on even if his siblings were destroyed, but after his last two fights so far... No; he had to shake these doubts out of his head. After all, he was half-saiyan, and the last two near-death experiences had multiplied his power enormously already. Surely he would have no trouble now; he and his changelings would soon achieve their goal. He started to laugh; softly at first, and then it rose to a loud cackling that echoed all around him. These ponies were doing him a favor by beating him half to death; he would continue to get stronger with each puny attempt at resistance they threw at him. He had destroyed the Wonderbolts' entire chain of command; he had defeated the self-proclaimed "Wub God", DJ Pon3. He figured at this point, even the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses' combined couldn't even stop him. His victor was all but assured now. He stood up, finally no longer feeling any major pain, and signaled his remaining followers to take to the skies once more. The entirety of the bug-like creatures did so not only with vigor, but without hesitation; it was as if instead of being afraid of suffering the same fate as their fallen, they wished to get back at the ones who had caused even more death in their hive. These ponies surely were in for a storm of destruction. * * * Celestia and Luna stood facing each other inside one of the royal castle's secret antechambers. The power coursing around the two was jaw dropping, and was only raising higher as they called back every ounce of energy they had sealed away within themselves long ago. The teachings of King Kai had not been lost on them; they were every bit as strong as they were in their youth. Celestia, however, still looked dissatisfied with the current flow of energy she was outputting. "Sister," Luna spoke, her archaic tone of voice evident. "art thou not pleased with the power we possess?" "No." Celestia answered curtly, her multicolored ethereal mane rippling. "I am not satisfied, my sister. I feel this is still not enough to defeat Sapphic." "Surely you jest?" The smaller alicorn insisted. "The might of our regal powers combined shall surely vanquish this foe." Celestia did not look at her younger sister, for she was too deep in thought. This was a miniscule power compared to what she was sensing from him right now. To make the matter worse, she felt every massive leap in power he made as the power levels of other ponies were snuffed out. His rampage across Equestria was only making him stronger, and there was no way they would keep up with power surges of this magnitude. She couldn't give up though; she was not at full power yet, and perhaps in her years since her training, she held more than she knew. She had to keep gathering her strength. If Equestria was to fall, than she shall fall with it, but only shall she fall fighting. * * * "Sapphic is coming!" Shouted one of the crystal pony scouts as he cam galloping back into Ponyville. "Sapphic is coming!!" Twilight and the others quickly dropped what they were doing, and got into position behind the several rows of armed crystal ponies and normal ponies alike. Each of them kept their eyes fixed on the horizon, awaiting whatever horrors were about to come flying overhead. There were a few moments of silence, and nopony spoke a word; the wind being the only noisemaker within the small town. Suddenly, like a swarm of locusts, the army of black and green beasts came crashing over the border of Ponyville like a tidal wave of teeth, hooves, and wings. The sound of their combined buzzing was near deafening as the monsters trampled the first wave of soldiers effortlessly before engaging in actual combat with the rest of the ground forces. Spears, swords, and even blunt objects were thrown around in a frenzy of violence and death; the once clean soil of Ponyville's trails were now bathed in blood, both red and green in color as bodies of both species started to hit the ground. Some of the changelings looked to retreat into he air, but the pegasi of the small town wouldn't have it, divebombing them and using them like volleyballs in high speed attacks. The changelings themselves fought back as well, and in a few seconds members of both sides began to fall from the air; twisting and turning until they either splattered across the ground, or crashed through roofs and windows, never to get up again. Rainbow Dash was the first to se Sapphic as he hovered above the battlefield with a look of enjoyment on his cracked and beaten face; his long strands of dark green hair flowing in the wind as he surveyed the destruction. Without saying a word to the others, Rainbow Dash blasted into the air directly at the changeling prince. Twilight and the others shouted out desperately, but only Twilight followed her into the sky; Fluttershy cowering behind Pinkie Pie in tears of fright. Sapphic saw the rainbow blur a split second before he sensed her, and in less time then that after he did, she had struck him with a huge headbutt to his side. He cried out curtly in pain, and held his body with an arm to dull the pain. Rainbow Dash was virtually breathing fire from her flaring nostrils. This was the guy who killed Scootaloo...she just knew it. She wasn't going to let him smugly sit up here and laugh as the rest of her friends fought for their very lives. "Dash! Stop!" Twilight's voice reached her. This prompt only made the multi-colored pegasus want to attack even more, and that was exactly what she did. Zipping forward, leaving the afterimage of a rainbow, she passed by Sapphic, and mule kicked him through the air. Before two seconds had passed, she struck him again, and he started to descend towards the ground. He'd never reach it, as Dash once again zoomed by to blast his face with a frontal hoof strike, and send him for a sidespin though the sky. He stopped himself, but was flipped head over heels as she clotheslined him with her left wing when she flew past at high speed, hitting him in the throat, and shattering what little of his exoskeleton remained I that area. Then, as he started to slow his out of control spinning, his chest was nearly caved in by another large mule kick from the blue pony with the rainbow mane. She had him reeling and retching in ten seconds flat. Sapphic held back the urge to puke anymore blood from his maw, and started to straighten himself to face Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo had been fast, but this mare was something else; he couldn't even sense her power level before she struck, and if he managed to, it would be too late to block her. He had to ground her first, and then he would fight the others.